I believe vanilla to be a beautiful taste and not boring in the slightest. I haven’t been able to find whole vanilla pods in any of the local supermarkets so when I go to a large city supermarket this is one of the things I make sure I buy.

A lovely way of incorporating more vanilla into your life is by making vanilla sugar. It couldn’t be easier.

Assemble the following:

How to Make Vanilla Sugar:

Pour some sugar into the empty container. Cut the vanilla pods in half length ways and add to the jar. Fill the rest of the jar with sugar, close the lid and shake. Leave to stand for a week or two giving it another shake every day or two. That’s it.

How to Use Vanilla Sugar:

Mine sits alongside my bicarb on my herb and spice rack and gets brought out every time I have a bowl of porridge.

It also makes an appearance when I want to make a variation of my cinnamon shapes.

Does anyone else keep a supply of vanilla sugar on hand at all times?

I am always looking for ways to make healthier versions of the food that I love. Tuna mayo is one of the my favourite baked potato and baguette fillings but it just is not that good for you when it has been slathered with mayonnaise. So I have experimented and come up with a few alternative methods of making it that remove a lot of the unhealthy fat while still retaining its overall yumminess.

No Mayo Tuna Mayo #1

While my photo may not do this concoction justice make no mistake it is very delicious. In the bowl I added tuna, grated cucumber, mixed salad leaves, onion and any other bits of vegetable that I had on hand and felt like eating. I think there is some chopped tomato in there and even some small pieces of red pepper. Then I took a lime and squeezed it over the bowl. I ended up using the whole lime. Nothing else was needed except a pinch of sea salt and a few cracks of black pepper.

No Mayo Tuna Mayo #2

Instead of lime juice you could add a simple dressing to your tuna and bowl full of vegetables. A good recipe to try is one tablespoon balsamic vinegar, two tablespoons of olive oil and one tablespoon of Dijon mustard. If you don’t like mustard that much you could use slightly less. This makes a great dressing that works really well with tuna.

No Mayo Tuna Mayo #3

If you love tuna but can’t face eating it without a creamy dressing of sorts then this is the healthy version for you. You need to take the following ingredients and mix well together. Pour over your bowl of tuna and enjoy:

4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1.5 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1.5 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons Greek yoghurt
0.5 tablespoon olive oil

If you have leftover Greek yoghurt after making this recipe then make sure you check out this post for another great way of using it.

Do any of you eat healthy versions of classic dishes? Do you have any other no mayo tuna mayo recipe ideas?

Making yourself a big salad is a wonderful way to deal with lunch. Eating baguettes or sandwiches just doesn’t fill someone up in the same way and having just soup can be a bit dull. If you haven’t got access to filled baked potatoes then turning to a massive heap of salad is a great solution.

Salad is healthy, filling and if you follow this formula then can be different every single day. It is impossible to get bored if you play around with the ingredients, toppings and dressings as I am going to demonstrate.

Base: Salad Greens and Vegetables

Mixed salad leaves
Grated carrot, red cabbage
Thinly sliced broccoli stems
Peppers
Cucumber, tomato, red onion
Spinach etc

Protein

Turkey, chicken or pork
Tuna, salmon, white fish
Lentils, butter beans, legumes
Cottage cheese
Eggs
Last night’s leftovers

Fun Toppings

Avocado
Nuts and Seeds
Grated cheese
Slice of bacon
Raisins
Roasted veg – courgettes, aubergine, carrots, onions, broccoli….
Croutons
Dried Herbs
Fresh Herbs

Dressings

You could just pour over your usual dressing (most likely oil and vinegar based) or you could create an unusual alternative.
Salsa (tomatoes, red onion, coriander, lime juice)
Soured Cream with lemon juice (for Mexican themed salads)
Hummus
Low fat mayo with mustard and vinegar
Tzatziki
Barbecue Sauce (ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce)

The trick with salads is to keep experimenting. A good tip is to prepare your base for the week in advance so you can just grab, assemble and go in the mornings.

Do any of you have any great salad recipes?

We have discovered we are the lucky owners or a a large and rather beautiful prickly pear. We hadn’t spotted it because it is planted on a bit of a rock face and it was rather overgrown so slightly hidden from view. Now we’ve cleared the area in which it sits we can see it quite clearly as we walk down our path to our car.

Being a cactus means it doesn’t need a lot of water to survive. That makes it ideal for this garden then. They grow quite quickly and can be easily propagated and planted elsewhere. Here is the run down on growing and caring for prickly pears.

Planting Prickly Pears

Buy them when they are small so they are easier to handle. Their spines and invisible hairs mean they must be planted away from paths, walkways and certainly no where a child could get access to. They do grow quite large so take this into consideration when choosing a spot.

Watering Prickly Pears

Unless they are a new plant prickly pears will survive without additional watering. Rain fall should be enough. It is advisable however to look out for any shrivelling or wilting. In these instances the cactus should be watered.

Propagating Prickly Pears

You will need to handle the plant with tongs and use folded up newspaper to grip the plant with. To take cuttings you just cut off one of the pads and leave to try for about a week. Then you plant it shallowly in soil, cut side down. Every couple of weeks give the cutting a water to help it develop roots.

Pruning Prickly Pears

Don’t attempt this without your tongs and folded newspaper! Cut off any pads that look unhealthy or are placed at an awkward angle. Use loppers or a saw to make the cut. You can cut the pads off so that the remaining pads hide the cut. This keeps the plant looking natural. Watch out for you knees and fingers. These plants are fierce!

Prickly Pear Pests

If you see any white cottony masses on the surface you should remove them with a garden hose. These are cochineal scale which feed on the juices of the plant. They die when they are removed as they no longer have anything to feed on. This is about the only pest that will take on this spiky plant.

So all in all a great plant – looks amazing and takes minimal care or water. Will survive extreme temperatures both hot and cold and don’t succumb to many pests. I feel very lucky to have this herbaceous plant in my garden. From a permaculture perspective I suppose these would be great to plant under a window or around a boundary to keep out intruders!

Do you have any prickly pears of other types of cactus in your garden?

I’ve always known about the 80 / 20 rule or the Pareto Principle but recently I have been applying its principle on a regular basis and for me it works a treat. I am prone to overcomplicate a task or get annoyed when something is not quite perfect. When you are only shooting for 80% however you don’t start with perfection in mind. This is a great relief to me.

I am using it in all sorts of ways. Instead of starting every blog post with keyword research and finishing it with a gruelling marketing schedule, I am simply getting the posts written and up (and in the meantime loving the process.) Another great example is with food.

The other day I really had a craving for Mexican food. I love it. I mulled over the idea of making a chilli, but just couldn’t face buying all the ingredients, cooking it, storing the leftovers for days and scrubbing all the pots and pans. So instead I scratched the itch in a different way, a way that didn’t involve tons of food, messy pans or lengthy cooking periods. The resulting dish I would estimate was 80% as tasty as it’s meaty counterpart but took only 20% of the time and I would hazard a guess it cost only 20% of a real chilli too.

Here is what you do:

Cook an onion slowing in some oil. Add a tin / jar / big helping of cooked kidney beans and stir around. Add in a good helping of tomato ketchup and a few teaspoons of cumin powder (taste to see if you have added enough). Simmer for a few minutes and eat as you would a normal chilli.

Ok so you wouldn’t produce this at dinner party, but for being quick, cheap and nutritious it’s a dish that cannot be faulted!

Do you use the 80 / 20 rule in your life? In what ways you do find it to be helpful?

If you want to start your weekend off on the right foot I can’t recommend highly enough indulging in this juice combo:

You can buy carrot juice from the supermarket, or you can make your own. Likewise with the orange juice.

Carrot and orange is a classic flavour combination. Are there any other classic juice combos I should try?

Tzatziki is a great way to use up any leftover Greek yoghurt / soured cream / plain yoghurt that happens to be kicking around in the fridge. It is delicious when used as a dipping sauce or salad dressing or general accompaniment. It goes with all the kind of food I eat and can be whipped up in a matter of minutes (if you do it my way!).

You could drain the yoghurt first and salt your cucumbers before de-seeding them which would remove a lot of the water and make the sauce much thicker, but this takes time. You could also leave the finished product to chill for two hours to let the flavours develop. Alternatively you can take every short cut under the sun and do it my way. Here is the world’s easiest tzatziki recipe:

Chop cucumber into crescents. Add to food processor with Greek yoghurt, clove of garlic, pinch of salt, black pepper and generous helping of dried dill. Blend until smooth ish. Taste and add further dill, lemon juice and salt as required.

If you don’t have a processor you could grate the cucumber, mince the garlic and mix it altogether by hand.

Use this on your salads, in your wraps, to dip vegetables into or as a side dish with your main meal.

Have you developed your own short cuts in the kitchen?

Do you find yourself storing things for the home / pieces of furniture that you aren’t ready for yet but you can’t get rid of? I do. We have had this pair of beautiful Moroccan outside lights since about week two of living here. Fast forward a couple of years and I am delighted to report that they are now up and working! Not only do they look great but they are a real motivator to get more of the outside done.

The renovation to the inside of the house is going well. I’ve made good headway with the painting. I’ve had to pause this weekend because the shop has run out of my colour. We’re starting to hang pictures though which is wonderful.

The switch has most definitely been flicked to summer here in Portugal. A few days ago it was like monsoon season.

As of yesterday it is blisteringly hot. The change was so sudden that there was no easing in period. My taekwondo outfit last night after training was absolutely soaked through! It is only going to get hotter too. Yikes!

I really don’t enjoy boiled carrots. There I’ve said it. Being well aware of the numerous health benefits of this vegetable however I don’t want to just eliminate from my diet. The only solution is to find other ways to enjoy it. So that is what I’ve done. Here are three ways that I regularly enjoy carrots without being reminded of school lunches.

1 Carrot juice

This does need a juicer to be made and it uses a lot of carrots to get only a small amount of juice but it is all worth it. Don’t forget to peel the carrots first as the skins can taste bitter.

2 Roasted Carrots

Preheat oven and add a thin layer of olive oil to a baking tray. Heat the tray for a few minutes until smoking. Add you peeled and chopped carrots to the hot oil and roast, turning occasionally, for 30 to 40 minutes. I added some of my dried rosemary to these but you could add any herb you have on hand.

3 Braised Carrots

Chop you carrots and cook briefly in a frying pan in some butter and some brown sugar. Add some water until the carrots are just covered and cook with the lid on. This method makes the carrots extremely sweet and tender. Braised carrots may look like boring old boiled carrots but they are sooo much nicer. You could add a little bit of honey before serving to make them even sweeter.

Has anyone got any other ways to enjoy carrots without having to boil them?

Hummus is one of those things that I forget to make but really enjoy, so I’m writing about it here to remind myself to make it more often. As much as I love chick pea hummus I thought I’d see if I could find another recipe to use and lo and behold I found a broad bean and pea hummus. I happen to have a good supply of both at the moment as my autumn planting of broad beans and peas actually cam to fruition (unlike the lambs lettuce and spinach – the less said about that the better.)

I knocked up a quick batch (just add the veg to a food processor with a bit of garlic, olive oil, salt and lemon and whizz until smooth. You may need to add a little water to get the right consistency.) and ate it with some beautiful goats cheese that I bought on my last visit to spain. The cheese had a dried rosemary crust.

Here are some other hummus ideas that would be great to try out

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Beetroot Hummus

Basil Hummus

Do you have any great hummus recipes that I should try?